People who do post to FFA LINKS will never read all junk mail in their in-box, they just delete it. So what is point? It is like a cat and mouse game that will never end. So, is that what you really want? Because it does not stop there. Your email address is added to spam databases, and posted to opt-in mailing lists (real "opt-in", huh?). NOW, your email address is a pawn for spammers. Every piece of software for harvesting email addresses will grab yours, and now your email address is for sale everywhere.

Do yourself a favor.... There are so many ways to do productive advertising. Stay away from FFA LINKS. You will make NO money, and you will be a VICTIM of constant SPAM. You will NEVER see a successful business entrepreneur posting to FFA Sites. Ask them where to advertise, they will tell you.

When I was a newbie, I submitted to every FFA link I could find. Gee, submitting your link to hundreds of thousands of possible clients? And for FREE? How could you go wrong? It was SO easy!

I would wake up next morning with hundreds of emails in my box. In my opinion, YES< it is SPAM! Because I DO NOT WANT THEM! I posted to an FFA LINK page, that is all. I HAD to agree to receive some emails, but not HUNDREDS!!! That was only way to get my link on page! I was in for a rude awakening. Not one thread of business came through and I could not decipher what was JUNK MAIL, and what was business.

I literally had to get another email account. I do not touch FFA Pages, and I get an average of a few spam mails a day. Everything else is business. I love it! I will never totally get rid of spam. In fact, now it is a pleasure, because I just reply with my AD. Anyone who does business online is guaranteed to receive some. But if you want to get rid of hundreds of emails in your box, then STOP POSTING TO FFA Pages! They are, in fact, biggest culprit of SPAM.

Most successful businesses have learned to stay away from FFA Pages. These practices are not part of a successful business. They are part of a desperate ploy to make money without spending any.

Now, not everyone will agree with what I am saying, however, facts are in front of you. You decide whether you want to deal with all junk mail. I, for one, can say that it is a pleasure doing business online, now that I do not have to wake up to hundreds of spammers.

You can save yourself a lot of headaches by NOT falling VICTIM to SPAMMERS!

Finally, this one from "Abuse Response Team" at DumbHost:

"In light of this new information, I have gone ahead and re-enabled your domain. Be advised that any mass emails such as this will be considered a violation of our terms of service. You may want to take steps to ensure that services such as this are not sending out this kind of advertisement for your site.

Regards, Abuse Response Team"

Me:

"They did not send an advertisement for my site. My articles are publicly available for reprint, as are thousands of other authors'. It is usual practice for authors to give permission for reprinting provided newsletter publisher publishes author's resource box at end of article. It's a way of generating traffic to author's website.

"The author has no control over who uses article in this way. Is a paying advertiser in an ezine shut down if publisher of ezine sends a spam email (assuming that it was spam in first place)? ... That policy makes no sense whatsoever."

Them:

Nothing. Zip. Nada. No apology, no nothing.

Nice going DumbHost. You must be proud.

PLAN OF ACTION

My experience was pretty trivial in scheme of things. I was able to get my site restored in just a couple of hours. Consider damage that could be done to your business if that didn't happen though. What would be impact on YOUR bottom line if your site was shut down for 3 days? Or a week? Or for good?

So, what's innocent party to do in a situation like this?

Here's one plan of action:

1. SUE irresponsible complainer for defamation. 2. SUE irresponsible spam police for defamation. 3. FIRE webhost. 4. SUE fired webhost for lost profits.

THE SOLUTION

I for one am not generally in favor of government regulation when it comes to Internet. This is one area, however, in which I must say some form of governmental control should be taken. Where else but online can you have a situation where it's commonplace for someone to take punitive action against an innocent bystander BEFORE giving them a fair hearing? Where else but online can ignorant and/or malicious individuals be allowed to cause such injury to someone else's livelihood without being called to account? Try that in real world and you'll be answering a charge of vandalism, defamation and trespass to goods just to start.

It's high time someone took a balanced approach to issue of spam and recognized that, although spam is an undeniable problem, so too are anti-spam zealots and plain malicious types who think it's sport to trash some innocent person's business and reputation. They should be held to account for damage they cause.

In addition, in recognition of this unfortunate fact of online life, a fact, I might add, of which webhosts are only too well aware, webhosts should also be held accountable for shutting down livelihoods based only on prosecution's case in chief. The defense is entitled to be heard and any conviction that results from a one-sided hearing is nothing short of an abject denial of due process. The legal profession can't get away with that. Why hell should webhosts?

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* Fictionalized names.

Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online .... practical home business ideas, resources and strategies for the work-from-home entrepreneur. http://www.ahbbo.com